NM·15

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Coin
Coin type
Coin type:	Lejeune C1
Description:	obverse: right-facing head of Apollo, reverse: right-facing head of a horse and legend
Material (main component):	silver
Average diameter:	1.6 cm0.63 in <br />
Average thickness:	unknown
Average weight:	2.5 g0.0025 kg <br />0.00551 lb <br />
Workmanship:	cast
Archaeological culture:	unknown
Date:	late 3rd–2nd c. BC
Date derived from:	typology
Number of known pieces:	9
Area of circulation:	lower Rhône valley
Mint / Main site:	unknown
Coordinates (approx.):	none
Coin legend
Idealised transliteration:	·a·lkouesi
Idealised original script:
Variant reading:	iailkouesi
Position:	back, bottom
Orientation:	0°
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	North Italic script
Letter height:	00 cm <br />0 in <br />
Number of letters:	8 - 10
Number of words:	1
Number of lines:	1
Inscription type:	minting authority
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'of Alkovesos'
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 331
Sources:	Lejeune 1971: 130

Images

Silver coin (BN 2540) of type NM·15 with iailkouesi legend

Silver coin (BN 2539) of type NM·15 with iailkouesi legend

Coin legends iailkouesi of coins NM·15 (as shown by Mommsen)

Commentary

Min. 53 specimens of the coin type are known (based on Colbert de Beaulieu 1966: 446):
1. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2537: 2.48 g, 14x15 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue:
2. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2538: 2.38 g, 14.5x16.5 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue: ??
3. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2539: 2.6 g, 14.5x15.5 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue:
4. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2540: 2.36 g, 14x15 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue:
5. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2541: 1.85 g, 14.5x15.5 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue: [
6. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2542: 2.55 g, 13x16 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue: [
7. Pautasso 1976: tav. X.30; 2.7 g; Museo di Leone, cat. no. 339:
8. Pautasso 1976: 490; Collezione Danicourt a Péronne: ·a·lkouesi
9. Geiser et al. 2012: 102, fig. 37; 16 mm; private collection: 10. Mommsen 1853: Taf. III.36A:

Further images in Mommsen 1853: Taf. III.36B–D (drawings of unidentifiable legends – C/D = no. 4?), Blanchet 1905: pl. II.13 (photo of no. 1), Pautasso 1976: X.28 (photo of no. 5), X.29 (photo of no. 3), X.31 (photo of no. 4), tav. X.32 (photo of no. 1).

The coin type belongs with group C (type Ia) of coin legends written in the Lepontic alphabet, represented by legends on silver coins with distribution in the lower Rhône valley, associated the Allobroges and/or Cavares (see Numismatics). The dating follows Pautasso 1976 and Geiser et al. 2012: 106. Obverse right-facing head of Apollo with laurel wreath, reverse right-facing horse's head and below the dextroverse legend.

The legend appears in different variants: full or abbreviated to .a.lkoue, once without the second punct, once with second punct and lambda transposed, more often with retrograde that regular lambda. The vertical strokes before and after alpha – particularly the second one, for which more space tends to be available due to the shape of the coin – are mostly full-length, hence the frequent transliteration of the sequence as iailkouesi. The interpretation of the verticals as puncts goes back to Lejeune 1971: 130 based on the simple observation that the beginning of iailkouesi is inexplicable, while alkouesi can be straight-forwardly analysed as a dithematic personal name, both of whose elements are otherwise attested in both Transalpine and Cisalpine Celtic (see the word page). Cf. NM·16.

See also Mommsen 1853: 213 f., no. 36 (C/D = no. 4), Blanchet 1905: 149, Brenot 1998: 24–27.

Bibliography

Blanchet 1905	Adrien Blanchet, Traité des monnaies gauloises. Vol. I, Paris: 1905.
Brenot 1998	Claude Brenot, "A propos des monnaies à légendes lépontiennes de Transalpine", in: Fondazione "Andrea Pautasso" per gli studi di numismatica (ed.), Forme di contatto tra moneta locale e moneta straniera nel mondo antico. Atti del Convegno internazionale, Aosta 13-14 ottobre 1995. A cura di Giovanni Gorini, Padova: Esedra Editrice 1998, 23-37.
CII	Ariodante Fabretti, Corpus inscriptionum italicarum antiquioris aevi. Ordine geographico digestum et glossarium italicum, in quo omnia vocabula continentur ex umbricis, sabinis, oscis, volscis, etruscis aliisque monumentis quae supersunt, Augusta Taurinorum: 1867.
Colbert de Beaulieu 1966	Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Beaulieu, "Légendes monétaires de Gaule en caractères dérivés de l'Étrusque", in: —, Actes du 90e congrès national des sociétés savantes, Nice, 1965. Section d'archéologie, Nice: 1966, 445–450.
Geiser et al. 2012	Anne Geiser, Julia Genechesi, Nicola Scoccimarro, "Monnaie et écriture au second âge du fer autour de l'arc alpin. Une nouvelle approche des statères épigraphes attribués naguère aux Salasses", Études Celtiques 38 (2012), 77–129.